Strategic advice to leverage new technologies

Centralizing a corporation was once considered an efficient way to run an enterprise. Decisions and information processing occurred in an orderly, top-down, hierarchical manner.

Agent technology is now necessary to reduce costs; to improve efficiency and effectiveness; and to support the requirements of individuals, groups, companies, and universities as they collaborate globally.

In Part I (Vol. 10, No. 4) of this two-part series on service-oriented architecture (SOA), we provided a high-level review of SOA features, discussed some difficulties with a process-oriented SOA, and mentioned the need for unification of information and process in a SOA. In this Executive Update, we examine how this unification can be achieved.

The ultra-competitive nature of today's business world is driving companies to optimize the processes that impact their financial and operational performance. As a result, many companies are seeking to apply performance-driven management techniques to streamline their day-to-day business operations and facilitate better decisions across the organization.

The ultra-competitive nature of today's business world is driving companies to optimize the processes that impact their financial and operational performance. As a result, many companies are seeking to apply performance-driven management techniques to streamline their day-to-day business operations and facilitate better decisions across the organization.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) has been a headache for many public companies, but the discipline and transparency it forced on them produced an unexpected benefit -- better control of their business information (most of it electronic) and higher market valuations. The new electronic discovery (e-discovery) amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that went into effect on 1 December 2006 promise a similar headache -- and similar benefits.

Agile practices generally get their start when someone in an organization -- anyone -- begins to think something like, "I'm sure there is a better way to go about this business of developing software." That person can be a developer, a user, a manager, a team leader -- perhaps even you. There are, in fact, many "better ways," among which agile is only one possible choice. How we choose is largely a matter of preference, be it individual or organizational.

Now that companies are making progress with service-oriented architecture (SOA), they are starting to experience some of the costs of success. As more services are developed and more applications are built using those services, the services need to be enhanced to support additional requirements for multiple, simultaneous users.